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Contegra, a bovine jugular vein graft, has been widely used as a preferable biomaterial in the surgical treatment of congenital heart defects, especially as a conduit for the right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction. This article aims to make a comprehensive review on the clinical outcomes of Contegra. Reports of Contegra published since 2002 were comprehensively retrieved, collected and analyzed. There were 1718 Contegra, applied in 1705 patients. The sizes of the conduits were 8-22 mm. The patients aged from newborn to 74.5 years, prevailed by pediatrics. The primary diagnosis was congenital heart defects in all cases, with Tetralogy of Fallot, truncus arteriosus and pulmonary atresia being the first three diagnoses, representing 25.6%, 16.7%, and 13.1%, respectively. Contegra was used as a tube graft in the pulmonary position in 1635 (95.9%) patients, as a monocuspid patch in 12 (0.7%), as a graft in the position of the pulmonary valve or a monocusps in 40 (2.3%), and as an inferior vena cava-pulmonary artery conduit in the Fontan procedure in 18 (1.1%) patients, respectively. Conduit reimplantation was performed in 141 (8.3%) patients 33.8 ± 37 (8.6-106.8) months after the initial conduit insertion. Conduit plasty was necessary in 6 (0.4%), and reintervention in 83 (4.9%) patients. Indications for conduit reimplantation included severe stenosis of the distal anastomosis, pseudoaneurysm of the proximal anastomosis and severe conduit regurgitation. As for the good performance, availability and longevity, Contegra is a biomaterial suitable for the right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction and for patch repair for ventricular septal defect, but not apt for Fontan procedure.

Cystic medial necrosis (CMN) is a disorder of large arteries, in particular the aorta, characterized by an accumulation of basophilic ground substance in the media with cyst-like lesions. CMN is known to occur in certain connective tissue diseases such as Marfan syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and annuloaortic ectasia, which usually result from degenerative changes in the aortic wall. The relationships between CMN and congenital heart defects as well as other disorders have been evidenced. The mechanisms are still controversial, even though many molecular studies have been conducted. The aim of the present article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the CMN lesion in terms of pathologic features, clinical implications and etiologies based on molecular research results.

Objective: Associations between cardiovascular diseases and serum enzymes or coagulation activities have been sufficiently documented in patients with myocardial infarction. However, the alterations of these biomarkers in patients with postinfarction myocardial rupture have rarely been reported. The aim of this study is to present the profiles of the markers in patients with postinfarction myocardial rupture., Methods: From 2004 to 2008, 19 consecutive patients were referred to this hospital for surgical repair of postinfarction myocardial rupture. Eight (42.1%) patients had free wall rupture, 5 (26.3%) had papillary muscle rupture, 5 (26.3%) had ventricular septal rupture, and 1 (5.3%) had double structure (ventricular septum + free wall) rupture. Thirteen patients survived the operation, and 6 died. Laboratory findings including serum enzymes and coagulation activities were collected and analyzed., Results: The coagulation markers and serum enzymes except for fibrinogen increased significantly after the development of myocardial rupture. Statistical differences in D-dimer, partial thromboplastin time, peak lactate dehydrogenase, peak creatine kinase and creatine kinase fraction MB were found between non-survivors and survivors. Troponin I values were elevated significantly during the early days after the onset or surgical repair of myocardial rupture. Multivariant regression analysis did not show any significant relationship between creatine phosphokinase fraction MB (Y) and D-dimer (X1) or fibrinogen (X2)., Conclusion: Myocardial rupture leads to extremely high serum enzyme and coagulation activities except for fibrinogen after the onset. The evaluation of these biomarkers may help in making diagnostic and treatment decisions and in judging the clinical prognosis of such patients.